Duncan Jones Interview

TradeChat toured the Warcraft movie set and conducted interviews with many cast and crew members! First up in her interview series is director Duncan Jones.

Below are some highlights from the interview:

Duncan Jones: Way back when, the script that I was shown was obviously a pre-existing project that was worked on for a while, was very human eccentric, and my take was that the beauty of the game is that there are heroes on both sides.

Duncan Jones: The story is about, that in a conflict like this, there are reasons that go beyond good versus evil, a lot of it is about a situation that just doesn't seem to have any peaceful resolution.

Duncan Jones: Everyone wants to make the same kind of movie again, and I didn't want to do that. Some of you may know that i'm a gamer from a long time and the opportunity to take a true world building project, on this kind of scale and start it from scratch, not do a sequel, and actually be there from the beginning, I just wanted to do it.

Duncan Jones: I wanted that build up, we have seen an awful lot of films that they spend, you know, fifteen, twenty, twenty five minutes, watching epic battles, and not actually being invested in any of the individual participants, and I wanted to have something where you really cared about an individual and how it builds up for them personally.

Duncan Jones: For me personally it was always about making a film which stood in its own right. The biggest challenge for us, isn't about getting Warcraft fans to come and see this film, it's opening the minds of people who haven't played Warcraft before and make them feel comfortable, that this is a movie that they're really going to enjoy even if they know nothing of the Warcraft world.

Legion Minimap Improvements

Several weeks ago, we shared some Legion minimap improvements; nodes underground (or in a building) were greyed out. This system has further been refined. There are now arrow indicators showing which direction the node is in - up or down.

Blue Posts

Transmog

Zugsworth

Gantelets brique-d'acier - a quest reward that I had to grind Timbermaw rep to get (the only gloves in that style/color in the game).

Thank you for the report. As a result of this post we uncovered a bug in our data conversion that had been a little too aggressive. These items, and other level 40+ Mail items that were erroneously changed to Plate, will be reverted in a future build.

Hotfixes

Blizzard

Raids and Dungeons

LegacyTerrace of Endless SpringFixed an issue where defeating Protectors of the Endless may cause players to not receive loot if Protector Kaolan is defeated last.

Legion Raid Testing

Watcher

Obviously we've been experiencing significant technical issues. We've been trying to diagnose them, but they're beyond the scope of anything that can be addressed in the short-term (infrastructure/back-end issues, as opposed to just a simple code bug that can be fixed). As such, we're canceling today's tests. They'll be rescheduled.

I realize it's frustrating to carve time out of your schedule and then be unable to actually play. If there were anything we could do to prevent this, we would, but an alpha/beta environment is inherently less stable and polished because of how things are changing constantly, both in obvious player-facing ways but also in terms of behind-the-scenes tech. I apologize, but I honestly can't say that it won't happen again - it might. The disclaimers that accompany each raid testing announcement aren't just empty words.

A wave of alpha bans went out for users who took to the forums to spam/troll about server instability:

Mythic+ Dungeon Feedback

Watcher

Thanks for the great feedback so far, and lots of useful data. I haven't heard much about the Volcanic affix - any thoughts on how that one played out when it was active?

In the next build, Necrotic should stack a bit more slowly, but now also reduces absorbs taken as well as heals. Decay seems like it's probably more of a nuisance than an engaging challenge right now, yes? We're still thinking through possible changes with that one. Otherwise, the other affixes seem to have played out largely as envisioned, in terms of modifying gameplay.

We're keeping an eye on melee-unfriendliness concerns. We specifically avoided making any affixes that felt particularly punitive to melee players; it may be an issue with some specific Halls of Valor mechanics. It's fine if some bosses, or even some dungeons, are less favorable for certain specs or classes; it's not acceptable if the same specs are at a disadvantage in most or all of them, though.

Not much is likely to change in the next alpha build, but the next steps after that will be porting this system to the other 8 dungeons (Violet Hold will not be part of the keystone system - wave events and timers don't really play well together in a satisfying way).Bolster in its current state where it effects boss encounter adds is a little bit more situational but leads to the same problem in fights where there is no way to avoid killing the adds to progress/survive the encounter. The most obvious examples of this are Helya and Cordana.

The fact that it affected things like Flames of Woe and Stormforged Obliterators was actually a bug. They should be considered part of the boss encounter and be exempt. While it was possible to handle Bolster on them, as you note, there are other encounters where it would be entirely broken.

Insight on Order Hall Missions

Some additional thoughts on the concerns that have been raised in this and other threads, loosely paraphrased:

Don't you understand that no one likes missions? Why are you keeping any piece of the system?

We understand that many players are unhappy with garrisons, and in particular with the prominence of follower missions in Warlords of Draenor. We're certainly not sitting around, saying to ourselves, "Wow, everyone loves managing followers and doing missions; let's just copy/paste this feature into our next expansion for an easy win!"

We agree that, especially in the long run, the balance of content and rewards between garrison missions and core world content was a big problem in Draenor. Players too often found themselves without much reason to bother with dungeons or outdoor content, possibly logging on to raid or PvP, and otherwise just checking in to collect mission rewards and send followers out on new ones. And after a little while of that, it's awfully easy for it to stop feeling like a proper MMO experience.

We've tried to tackle this problem throughout our design of Legion. We've focused on replayable and varied outdoor world content and dungeon content as the heart and soul of the Legion endgame, and on reward systems that will support the continued relevance of those systems.

But at the same time, there are people who do enjoy the mission minigame, and there are some positive elements, such as a bit of offline progression, and the fun of looking forward to a reward waiting for you when you get home and log in. Not all aspects of the game are intended to appeal to all players - that's part of the challenge of creating a single game that is played by such a diverse audience with different preferences and playstyles. But while garrison followers and missions were a substantial portion of the content in Warlords, Order Hall missions are probably more like 3% of Legion.

I understand that there is a fair amount of cynicism, and there are some who are probably reading this right now and thinking that it's just a bunch of nice-sounding words trying to cover up our sinister plan of mission-table supremacy. But even if we wanted to, we know that we can’t hide anything here. Well before Legion is in anyone's hands, people will be experiencing the system in its entirety in beta, and we'll be judged on that basis.

But there's key player power at the bottom of my Order Hall tech tree, so isn't that gated behind missions?

Actually, no. As I mentioned in my post in the Alpha forums, what players are seeing in Alpha right now lacks context, admittedly because we haven't provided much. The research you can initiate in your Order Hall to unlock various perks, culminating in a strong player-power reward, requires Order Resources. Order Resources are not in any way gained through missions. You gain Order Resources from quest content: from the one-time Order Campaign quest arc, from treasures around the world, and at max level from outdoor world quests. If anything, missions are more likely to serve as an outlet for excess Resources once you have your research needs covered.

The Order Hall campaign immediately has you do missions that take a day to complete. That sounds terrible.

That's good feedback, and definitely the sort of thing we may adjust. Let me try to explain the intent here: The core of the class Order campaigns is epic quest content that is custom to your class. If you're a Death Knight, you might be working to raise a new set of Four Horsemen who are powerful enough to stand against the Legion; as a Mage, you may be investigating a plot that threatens to undo Dalaran from within; and so forth. That's what the Order campaigns are. We start you on these chains during the level-up experience, but they're intended to be a story that unfolds over time, complementing the game's level-up and endgame progression.

In Warlords, when we had the Garrison campaign quests, we presented a new one each week, but there was no real indication where the next step would come from, or how long you would have to wait in order to continue. This time around, we want to avoid having gaps where there's no quest in your log. Having occasional steps where we ask you to run a few missions with long completion times seemed like a more elegant way to do that, allowing us to weave in a bit of storytelling, as opposed to just "hey, come back next week for the next step."

I understand that most of the discussion is based on bits of information that emerge from the Alpha, and I know that it's difficult to truly reassure you when you haven't yet seen the things I'm talking about firsthand. But hopefully trying to share our goals and philosophies, as well as acknowledging past missteps (we hear you - really!), can provide some guidance about where this system is going to end up when it's complete.

Commentaires

Commentaire de AeronPeryton

Friggin' finally with the minimap improvements. I assume that it combines all of these new elements together now?

For example if a quest giver is below you and inside of a building, it is both grayed out and has a down arrow?

And are normal things (like mining nodes) now a star on the minimap, or are those something else?

Commentaire de Ketsuki

on 2016-04-12T10:40:03-05:00

Yes to the grayed out and having a directional arrow.

The stars on the maps are rare spawns or rare events.

Commentaire de GreySage

on 2016-04-12T10:58:12-05:00

Those minimap "improvement" have been live in-game since at least WoD, I don't know where you guys are looking while playing the game. More likely you don't actually play the game, like we've known for a long time...

Commentaire de Mightyena5875345

on 2016-04-12T11:32:08-05:00

Hahahaha. I love that Blizz banned complainers from the alpha. We don't need that negativity!

Commentaire de Mightyena5875345

on 2016-04-12T11:36:42-05:00

Those minimap "improvement" have been live in-game since at least WoD, I don't know where you guys are looking while playing the game. More likely you don't actually play the game, like we've known for a long time...

There were no stars on the map before, just skulls. Also you have to mouse over the dots to see the arrows. (Unless you have an addon). Yes, they didn't change much, but the interface is slightlt more user-friendly now.

Commentaire de ChaosJackal

on 2016-04-12T11:41:22-05:00

Those minimap "improvement" have been live in-game since at least WoD, I don't know where you guys are looking while playing the game. More likely you don't actually play the game, like we've known for a long time...

How smart of you indeed. Except that in live the underground nodes and quests are faded and without arrows unless you mouse over them. The above images indicate that the arrows will be present at all times on both above and underground nodes and quests, so you won't have to mouseover all the time when going for a node or something. A small change, but a change nonetheless, and rather convenient.

Commentaire de Karadros

on 2016-04-12T11:44:37-05:00

Hahahaha. I love that Blizz banned complainers from the alpha. We don't need that negativity!

The servers are pretty unstable...

Commentaire de Albaharmamar

on 2016-04-12T13:04:07-05:00

I wish spell casters would use their staffs while casting instead of keeping them on their backs like a useless stick hhhngh please Blizzard

Commentaire de Rankkor

on 2016-04-12T13:35:54-05:00

Third!

Who's on third?

Hahahaha. I love that Blizz banned complainers from the alpha. We don't need that negativity!

The servers are pretty unstable...

Because it IS an alpha.

Its worth pointing out. Its not even a beta. Of course the game is broken, buggy, unstable, messy, and even imbalanced. Hence why its an ALPHA.

Frankly, if they kicked several people off the alpha who mistakenly thought this was a demo or an early access, maybe they should invite me to the alpha

*wink-wink*

Commentaire de Wolfrick

on 2016-04-12T13:41:05-05:00

" I'm sure they won't mind being unable to test future encounters, seeing as it's such a waste of time."

Blizzard you ROCK HARD! i love you for this! ban and brun the HATERS! they just scream and cry... nothing constructive and healthy for the community comes from them.

I am so happy to hear this, Blizzard is making a stand and they listens to there resonable players, Legion will become so great

Commentaire de Wolfrick

on 2016-04-12T13:44:30-05:00

I wish spell casters would use their staffs while casting instead of keeping them on their backs like a useless stick hhhngh please Blizzard

I agree 100% with you pall, its is time to but this in to the game, it is a magic staff... why keep it on your back

PS: Spellcaster should also be able to hide there weapon since they only use there hands for the spell, maybe that could be it, implement 2 different cast animations, 1 with the staff and another without make it possible to hide the staff.

Commentaire de Joshmaul

on 2016-04-12T15:16:21-05:00

Oof. Burned by the Evil Eye Dude. Well, they DID bring it upon themselves...some of us would have given an arm, a leg, our souls (if we had one), etc. to get into alpha, so let us take their place instead. :D

Commentaire de Sounalius

on 2016-04-12T16:03:52-05:00

" I'm sure they won't mind being unable to test future encounters, seeing as it's such a waste of time."

Blizzard you ROCK HARD! i love you for this! ban and brun the HATERS! they just scream and cry... nothing constructive and healthy for the community comes from them.

I am so happy to hear this, Blizzard is making a stand and they listens to there resonable players, Legion will become so great

Wish this was a stand they took when everyone went feminist about that ONE Tracer pose.

Commentaire de nik666

on 2016-04-12T17:25:54-05:00

Since I love this game, Hazzikostas' ramblings are depressing me.

Commentaire de UsuallySpooky

on 2016-04-12T17:53:07-05:00

I love the anime buns that the priest has in apotheosis. If I ever wanted to cosplay as something from Chrono Crusade, I totally can now. Thanks blizz.

Commentaire de UsuallySpooky

on 2016-04-12T17:56:41-05:00

I wish spell casters would use their staffs while casting instead of keeping them on their backs like a useless stick hhhngh please Blizzard

I agree 100% with you pall, its is time to but this in to the game, it is a magic staff... why keep it on your back

PS: Spellcaster should also be able to hide there weapon since they only use there hands for the spell, maybe that could be it, implement 2 different cast animations, 1 with the staff and another without make it possible to hide the staff.

A spellcaster's staff is not used for magic, it's a fashion statement. Whether or not blizz programs the characters to know that using the staff is actually more fashion forward than keeping it on their backs is something that we have to deal with. I mean seriously, don't you know anything about couture

Commentaire de maccormaic

on 2016-04-12T18:08:30-05:00

Well before Legion is in anyone's hands, people will be experiencing the system in its entirety in beta, and we'll be judged on that basis.

Without putting too fine a point on it, I haven't seen anything that implies being judged by the playerbase would have any effect at all. Seriously, if you did just ignore the feedback, and players screamed, so what? I have yet to see any evidence of repercussions that landed on anyone at Blizzards a result of the way an in-game feature was received. I understand what you're trying to convey, but implying you're somehow accountable based on player reaction... well, I just don't see it.

Commentaire de Detinator247

on 2016-04-12T19:46:25-05:00

I wish spell casters would use their staffs while casting instead of keeping them on their backs like a useless stick hhhngh please Blizzard

I agree 100% with you pall, its is time to but this in to the game, it is a magic staff... why keep it on your back

PS: Spellcaster should also be able to hide there weapon since they only use there hands for the spell, maybe that could be it, implement 2 different cast animations, 1 with the staff and another without make it possible to hide the staff.

A spellcaster's staff is not used for magic, it's a fashion statement. Whether or not blizz programs the characters to know that using the staff is actually more fashion forward than keeping it on their backs is something that we have to deal with. I mean seriously, don't you know anything about couture

ummm. What do you mean, everyone knows spellcasters channel their magic through staves and wands and such

Commentaire de nmb3000

on 2016-04-12T21:12:50-05:00

But at the same time, there are people who do enjoy the mission minigame

Do they still really believe this, or is it just a lie they tell themselves trying to pretend they didn't waste an entire expansion on that failed idea?

if someone here really does find missions *fun* and can explain why, I'd love to hear it. But I think 95% of people find them tedious and probably wouldn't even bother with them if it weren't for the Master Plan addon. I would *love* to see Blizzards telemetry for when patch 6.2 came out and Master Plan didn't work. I bet the number of garrison missions sent out was maybe 20% of what it was the week prior.

Any bets on whether Blizz designs the new mission system UI so that addons can't control it? I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

Commentaire de Gorninator

on 2016-04-12T21:52:10-05:00

But at the same time, there are people who do enjoy the mission minigame

Do they still really believe this, or is it just a lie they tell themselves trying to pretend they didn't waste an entire expansion on that failed idea?

if someone here really does find missions *fun* and can explain why, I'd love to hear it. But I think 95% of people find them tedious and probably wouldn't even bother with them if it weren't for the Master Plan addon. I would *love* to see Blizzards telemetry for when patch 6.2 came out and Master Plan didn't work. I bet the number of garrison missions sent out was maybe 20% of what it was the week prior.

Any bets on whether Blizz designs the new mission system UI so that addons can't control it? I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

I'm not going to profess my love for them, but I did find them an exciting prospect in the build up to the expansion. A Commander sending out a ragtag group of fighters to explore and quest in the world of Draenor. We became that leader that would send us off to kill 15 orcs in the Burning Steppes or slay that Bog Lord in Zangarmarsh, yet still able to go off and do our own thing as well. A cool idea I think. The problem came when the rest of the content that would, along with Garrisons and the subsequent mission/follower mechanics, flesh out the expac didn't come and the Garrison was left on its own to keep people occupied for 2 years. What would have been a feature became the feature and of course there wasn't enough there to carry it.

Fast forward to now and the Class Order halls in Legion. Will the missions and followers in the upcoming expac be the main feature of content? I can't 100% say no (anything could happen between now and release) but I think it's fair to say that it won't be.